The first Weekly Thread for 2015. Who knows what the new year will bring (besides more Knicks losses)?
But before we move forward into the unknown, let's first recognise some of the big achievers in Basketball for the year 2014...
The 2014 NBA Awards
The Shane Battier 'Glue Guy' Award:
Draymond Green
The Bill Laimbeer Agitator Award:
Steven Adams
The Brian Taylor Award For The Athlete Who's Physique Is Incessantly Fawned Over By Commentators:
Rudy Gobert and his "length"
Jiffy Lube Employee Of The Year:
Gordon Hayward
The "What the f*ck happened?!?" Team Of The Year:
Charlotte Hornets
Player Most Loved By His Team's Fanbase:
Jimmy Butler
Player Most Hated By His Team's Fanbase:
Kirk Hinrich
The Maloof Award For The Owner Most Hated By His Team's Fanbase:
Vivek Ranadive
Least Suprising Season-Ending Injury Of The Year:
Anderson Varejao
The Gob Bluth "I’ve made a huge mistake" Award:
LeBron James' return to Cleveland.
Charlie Villanueva Team Cancer Award:
Josh Smith
Most Unfortunate Collateral Damage Of An Otherwise Good Rebranding:
The LadyCats
The Swaggy P Award For Most Swag:
Swaggy P
Bravery Award For Becoming The First Bearded Lady To Play In The NBA:
Evan Fournier
Hair Of The Year (Non-Ponytail Category):
Luke Babbitt and Chris Douglas-Roberts
Memorable NBA Events Of 2014
In lieu of any sort of serious Basketball analysis, let's continue with the Year In Review theme by looking back at some of the big events of 2014...if the protagonists involved sported the NBA's Hair Of The Year:
June 15:
Spurs win the NBA Championship.
November 5:
LeBron James returns to the Cavs and faces his toughest defensive test.
December 14:
Kobe passes Jordan on the All-Time Scoring list.
December 18:
Rajon Rondo is traded to the Mavericks.
And Now For Something Completely Different
The graph below plots Offensive and Defensive Efficiency (points scored and allowed per 100 possessions, adjusted for League Average and Strength Of Schedule). Basically the further in the top right corner you are, the better you are.
Once again, credit for the original idea goes to Bigfooty User Final Siren, who created the concept in the thread: The Race for the Flag in Squiggly Lines).
This Week's Efficiency Graph is split into East/West, with both graphs containing a mess of lines that chart each team's progress from when Efficiency was first graphed in Week 3 of this season.
Starting with the East:
The Atlanta Hawks just completed an impressive December, going 14-2 in a month that included 5 back to backs and 2 road wins in Texas. Then just yesterday they had an impressive away victory against the Blazers.
For a non-superstar team it's all a bit unfathomable, but the Graph indicates they're clearly the best in the East alongside Chicago.
Two other top Eastern teams, Washington and Toronto, are currently at the tail ends of West Coast trips that saw them fall backwards on the graph.
The Wizards in particular faced an extremely difficult road schedule and went 1-3, although the last two losses against OKC and San Antonio were closely fought. The Raptors were stomped by the Warriors and thus their Defensive efficiency took a huge hit.
Meanwhile the Celtics continue their transformation from early season scoring machine to defensive minded outfit.
Conversely the Magic (their logo trailed by a difficult-to-see black line) have shown little progression this season, their position on the graph having moved the least amongst all NBA teams.
Now to the Western Conference:
The first thing to note is that in general, the West is much better offensively than the Eastern Conference.
That said, one of last season's best offensive outfits - the Houston Rockets - have struggled to gain traction at that end.
Last week's high scoring free throw fest between OKC and the Suns saw both teams move upwards and left on the graph, the 6th week in a row OKC's Offensive Rating has improved - an expected result with the reintroduction of Wetsbrook and Durant, the latter being the ultimate "Just give this guy the ball and let him do his thing" guy on Offence.
The Grizzlies and Spurs seasons have followed similar trajectories. Though the graph shows that the defence of both teams is trending in the wrong direction, they are still relatively strong at that end compared to the rest of the league.
Highlight Of The Week
So Rajon Rondo admitted he hasn't played defence in a couple of years…I wonder if Tony Allen will admit he hasn't played offence in a couple of years. Here he is in last week's game against the Lakers:
Random Quiz Question Of The Week
A sign of the Hawks' return to relevance: The Atlanta Team Thread here on BigFooty was bumped for the first time in over 5 years.
Below are the 5 most popular BigFooty Team Threads. Which has the most replies?
And Briefly...
What To Watch For This Week
Mon: Toronto @ Phoenix. L2M4G calls it a "season defining game" so pay attention to this contest.
Tue: OKC @ Golden State. I shouldn't have to tell you to watch this game. The contrasting Point Guard styles will be a highlight.
Wed: Detroit @ San Antonio. The Pistons are streaking. Can the superstar backcourt duo of Jennings & Meeks possibly be stopped?
Thu: Memphis @ Atlanta. Let's hear it for roster continuity.
Fri: Houston @ New York. If Melo and Amar'e are still out the Knicks might not crack the 70-point barrier in this game.
Sat: Chicago @ Washington. I wonder if Paul Pierce will poke Joakim Noah in the face again?
Sun: Indiana @ Philadelphia. Watch this if you hate offence.
...And finally, on a much more serious note, RIP to Stuart Scott. I think his attitude and the way he continued to approach his life after being diagnosed with cancer, was really quite admirable.
But before we move forward into the unknown, let's first recognise some of the big achievers in Basketball for the year 2014...
The 2014 NBA Awards
The Shane Battier 'Glue Guy' Award:
Draymond Green
The Bill Laimbeer Agitator Award:
Steven Adams
The Brian Taylor Award For The Athlete Who's Physique Is Incessantly Fawned Over By Commentators:
Rudy Gobert and his "length"
Jiffy Lube Employee Of The Year:
Gordon Hayward
The "What the f*ck happened?!?" Team Of The Year:
Charlotte Hornets
Player Most Loved By His Team's Fanbase:
Jimmy Butler
Player Most Hated By His Team's Fanbase:
Kirk Hinrich
The Maloof Award For The Owner Most Hated By His Team's Fanbase:
Vivek Ranadive
Least Suprising Season-Ending Injury Of The Year:
Anderson Varejao
The Gob Bluth "I’ve made a huge mistake" Award:
LeBron James' return to Cleveland.
Charlie Villanueva Team Cancer Award:
Josh Smith
Most Unfortunate Collateral Damage Of An Otherwise Good Rebranding:
The LadyCats
The Swaggy P Award For Most Swag:
Swaggy P
Bravery Award For Becoming The First Bearded Lady To Play In The NBA:
Evan Fournier
Hair Of The Year (Non-Ponytail Category):
Luke Babbitt and Chris Douglas-Roberts
Memorable NBA Events Of 2014
In lieu of any sort of serious Basketball analysis, let's continue with the Year In Review theme by looking back at some of the big events of 2014...if the protagonists involved sported the NBA's Hair Of The Year:
June 15:
Spurs win the NBA Championship.
November 5:
LeBron James returns to the Cavs and faces his toughest defensive test.
December 14:
Kobe passes Jordan on the All-Time Scoring list.
December 18:
Rajon Rondo is traded to the Mavericks.
And Now For Something Completely Different
The graph below plots Offensive and Defensive Efficiency (points scored and allowed per 100 possessions, adjusted for League Average and Strength Of Schedule). Basically the further in the top right corner you are, the better you are.
Once again, credit for the original idea goes to Bigfooty User Final Siren, who created the concept in the thread: The Race for the Flag in Squiggly Lines).
This Week's Efficiency Graph is split into East/West, with both graphs containing a mess of lines that chart each team's progress from when Efficiency was first graphed in Week 3 of this season.
Starting with the East:
The Atlanta Hawks just completed an impressive December, going 14-2 in a month that included 5 back to backs and 2 road wins in Texas. Then just yesterday they had an impressive away victory against the Blazers.
For a non-superstar team it's all a bit unfathomable, but the Graph indicates they're clearly the best in the East alongside Chicago.
Two other top Eastern teams, Washington and Toronto, are currently at the tail ends of West Coast trips that saw them fall backwards on the graph.
The Wizards in particular faced an extremely difficult road schedule and went 1-3, although the last two losses against OKC and San Antonio were closely fought. The Raptors were stomped by the Warriors and thus their Defensive efficiency took a huge hit.
Meanwhile the Celtics continue their transformation from early season scoring machine to defensive minded outfit.
Conversely the Magic (their logo trailed by a difficult-to-see black line) have shown little progression this season, their position on the graph having moved the least amongst all NBA teams.
Now to the Western Conference:
The first thing to note is that in general, the West is much better offensively than the Eastern Conference.
That said, one of last season's best offensive outfits - the Houston Rockets - have struggled to gain traction at that end.
Last week's high scoring free throw fest between OKC and the Suns saw both teams move upwards and left on the graph, the 6th week in a row OKC's Offensive Rating has improved - an expected result with the reintroduction of Wetsbrook and Durant, the latter being the ultimate "Just give this guy the ball and let him do his thing" guy on Offence.
The Grizzlies and Spurs seasons have followed similar trajectories. Though the graph shows that the defence of both teams is trending in the wrong direction, they are still relatively strong at that end compared to the rest of the league.
Highlight Of The Week
So Rajon Rondo admitted he hasn't played defence in a couple of years…I wonder if Tony Allen will admit he hasn't played offence in a couple of years. Here he is in last week's game against the Lakers:
Random Quiz Question Of The Week
A sign of the Hawks' return to relevance: The Atlanta Team Thread here on BigFooty was bumped for the first time in over 5 years.
Below are the 5 most popular BigFooty Team Threads. Which has the most replies?
- The Official New York Knicks Thread
- Minnesota Timberwolves Thread - rebuild v9.0 Worship Wiggins Always
- The Chicago Bulls Thread
- Orlando Magic Supporter Clan - The Dawn of a New Era (feat. #12 Tobias Harris)
- The Pelican Brief: Your one stop shop for everything NOLA
- Minnesota Timberwolves Thread - rebuild v9.0 Worship Wiggins Always (1300 replies)
- The Chicago Bulls Thread (954 replies)
- The Official New York Knicks Thread (814 replies)
- The Pelican Brief: Your one stop shop for everything NOLA (633 replies)
- Orlando Magic Supporter Clan - The Dawn of a New Era (feat. #12 Tobias Harris) (540 replies)
And Briefly...
- First it was the Mike Tyson impersonation (biting) and now it's the Lance Stephenson impression (blowing). KG is well and truly losing his mind...signs of a formerly great player struggling to come to grips with the complete and utter erosion of his once-supreme basketballing abilities.
- So LeBron is gonna be sidelined for an extended period for the first time in his career, with knee and back issues expected to see him miss 2 weeks. As anyone over 30 knows: the body doesn’t recover from physical exertion as well as it used to. Talk quickly switches from "A freight train barrelling through the lane" to "Managing your body". Your main descriptor changes from "Youth" to "Experience" and time is no longer seen to be on your side.
- It was a close game between Chicago and Boston yesterday. The Bulls won out in the end thanks to a big game by Pau, who was constantly lauded by Stacey King and Neil Funk (anything's better than Boozer I guess), and who this week morphed into the best shot-blocker in the world…will Pau turn out to be the Free Agent signing of the season?
- The BigFooty Bulls fans came out in force during the game. Despite ranking 2nd in the quiz above, the Chicago fanbase is easily the strongest on this board. On the other hand the BigFooty Boston fans, once prominent, are now in hibernation...they know this team is a long way from being relevant I suppose.
- Both benches were into the Suns/Thunder game this week...it's always great to see sideline support from teammates, especially since we've been deprived of the Sacre/Bazemore antics this season. During this particular contest, a Suns bench player decided to celebrate a Markieff Morris 3 by doing some pushups along the sideline.
- The overly formal handshake between teammates is this season’s videobomb. In case you missed it, the best example was posted here a couple of days ago.
- You may have seen the youtube clip comparing the similarity between Damian Lillard's game winning 3-pointer against the Thunder a few weeks ago and his famous shot against the Rocket's in last year's playoffs.
- Well, Mr. Clutch was at it again this week, hitting a big 3 in OT in the win aginst the Raptors. Again it was the same play - running off a double screen - except this time it was in the midst of an offensive possession rather than being an out-of-bounds set.
- In that same game against that Raptors, Blazers commentator Mike Rice mistakenly called Valanciunas: “Jonas Valan-poo-nas”…juvenile, but well, I found it funny.
What To Watch For This Week
Mon: Toronto @ Phoenix. L2M4G calls it a "season defining game" so pay attention to this contest.
Tue: OKC @ Golden State. I shouldn't have to tell you to watch this game. The contrasting Point Guard styles will be a highlight.
Wed: Detroit @ San Antonio. The Pistons are streaking. Can the superstar backcourt duo of Jennings & Meeks possibly be stopped?
Thu: Memphis @ Atlanta. Let's hear it for roster continuity.
Fri: Houston @ New York. If Melo and Amar'e are still out the Knicks might not crack the 70-point barrier in this game.
Sat: Chicago @ Washington. I wonder if Paul Pierce will poke Joakim Noah in the face again?
Sun: Indiana @ Philadelphia. Watch this if you hate offence.
...And finally, on a much more serious note, RIP to Stuart Scott. I think his attitude and the way he continued to approach his life after being diagnosed with cancer, was really quite admirable.
